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Pesticides significantly reduce the number of pollen grains a bumblebee is able to collect, a new University of Stirling study has found.

Pesticides significantly reduce the number of pollen grains a bumblebee is able to collect, a new University of Stirling study has found.

The research, conducted by a team in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, found that field-realistic doses of a neonicotinoid pesticide affects the behaviour of bees – ultimately interfering with the type of vibrations they produce while collecting pollen.

Dr Penelope Whitehorn, the University of Stirling Research Fellow who led the research, said: “Our result is the first to demonstrate quantitative changes in the type of buzzes produced by bees exposed to field-realistic levels of neonicotinoid.

“We also show that buzz pollinating bees exposed to the pesticide also collect fewer pollen grains.”